A qualitative research on perceived authenticity of corporate social responsibility

Abstract

Purpose - With the increasing CSR efforts and consumer skepticism towards CSR, a deeper understanding regarding the dimensions behind the perceived authenticity of CSR becomes vital. With this purpose, current paper explores the dimensions of perceived authenticity in CSR domain from the perspective of consumers and company executives in a developing country context. Methodology - Current paper reviews the previous literature on perceived authenticity of CSR efforts and includes in-depth interviews with company executives responsible of CSR efforts from a sample of local and multinational companies operating in Turkey, and consumer focus groups , using in vivo and provisional coding in the first degree, and focused coding in the second degree with respondent validation. Findings- This paper’s findings indicate that perceived authenticity of consumers for CSR efforts is influenced by congruence, commitment, candidness and community link as previous research emphasized. This paper contributes to the literature by bringing creativity of CSR effort and consumer’s engagement with the CSR effort forth as two new dimensions affecting the perceived authenticity of CSR. Conclusion- Detailed exploration of perceived authenticity of CSR efforts advances the research and may help to impair the widening authenticity gap between the perceptions of the business and society in CSR domain in a developing country context.